Hundreds of millions of years ago, the
Earth that the dinosaurs inhabited look quite different than it
does now. In fact, the entire land mass of the Earth was drawn
together by continental drift into one giant supercontinent
surrounded by a single ocean called Tethys. The continent itself
was called Pangaea.

After a while, Pangaea gradually
split into two separate parts. The northern land mass (containing
the North American, Asian and European continents) gradually
fractured and spread northwards. The southernmost land mass
(containing South America, Africa, India, Antarctica and
Australia) remained fairly intact and occupied the southern
hemisphere. This southern hemispheric land mass was called
Gondwanaland.

At this time, Antarctica was
attached to the southern boundary of Australia, forming an area
that is known as polar Gondwanaland. Although polar Gondwanaland
was located well within the Antarctic circle, the fossil records
indicate that this area once enjoyed a climate similar to that of the
state of Oregon.

Paleobotanists report that Antarcticas cool landscape was filled with
beautiful conifers, ferns, evergreens and a few flowering plants
which spread patches of color across the vast land. Geologists
report that great mountain ranges and volcanoes pierced the
horizon and rivers flowed abundantly across the terrain. What is
most important to our study is that scientists have discovered that,
within this enchanting and peaceful polar environment, a variety
of life thrived, including dinosaurs.

Additionally, along the southern cliff side of Australia, a
region that was once attached to polar Gondwanaland, the remains
of another Polar Dinosaur was unearthed that provided insight
into the remarkable ability that certain dinosaur specied had to evolve, adapt and
thrive in dark, cool environments. The dinosaurs name was LEAELLYNASAURA (Lee-Ellena-Saura):

PRE-ADAPTATION TO THE UNDERWORLD
ENVIRONMENT.

When paleontologist Tom Rich
(Museum of Victoria, Australia) discovered the fossilized
remains of the polar dinosaur Leaellynasaura in an excavated tunnel
on the southern shores of Victoria, he uncovered evidence that showed how dinosaurs were fully capable of adapting and surviving in low light and low temperature conditions.

Leaellynasaura was unique
dinosaur in many ways. It was a large chicken sized herbivorous
dinosaur with bipedal posture, long legs and well-developed digits
at the end of their front limbs.

The most interesting thing about this discovery was found in the fossilized skull of Leaellynasaura.

When Tom
Rich studied Leaellynasauras skull (right), he noticed
that it also had an unusually large brain for a dinosaur of its
size and that its optical lobes (the ridge of the brain where
messages are received from the eye and are translated into visual
images) were extremely oversized. Additionally, the dinosaurs eyes were
remarkably large. These cranial formations led Dr. Rich to
believe that a major portion (almost sixty-five percent) of
Leaellynasaura's brain was completely dedicated to the processing
optical information. This may indicate Leaellynasaura was primarily
nocturnal (active at night).

Place a card or piece of paper on the dotted line, bring your
eyes close to the opposite end of the card or paper. Allow your focus to merge the two pictures. It can be seen in 3D!
(courtesy: Quantas 'Airways' Syme projects)

Although Polar
GondwanaLand had a climate much like that of northern Oregon or
Scotland, Dr. Rich knew that the seasonal extremes through which
the polar Gondwanaland environment fluctuated were as unique as
were the dinosaurs that inhabited this ancient region of the
planet. Logic suggests that any animal species that was living in these extreme southern latitudes would either
have to be:

A) A migrating species that travels to northern latitudes during the four long months of Antarctic winter
cold and darkness, or

B) A stationary species that was physically adapted to living and thriving
such bleak conditions.

Dinosaurs that remained in Antarctica would have had to forge for food in freezing or
sub-freezing temperatures and in the dark. How is this possible for a dinosaur? Could it be that the sheer environmental stresses of living under
these polar climates encouraged dinosaurs living in this
region to evolve an evermore increasingly warmer blooded
physiology in order to survive?

The physical adaptability
and physiological survivability of some of the dinosaurs to survive in
extreme low temperature environments has been estabished with the discovery of Antarctic dinsours, such as Leaellynasaura.

The BIG question is: Could Antarctic dinosaurs, such as the lovely
Leaellynasaura, be the perfect cadidates for adapting to the dark, cool regions
of the Earth...such as caverns and caves?

GOING, GOING.....DOWN

There are several reasons why it is
possible that some of the polar dinosaurs may have been driven to
seek the shelter of the Antarctic underworld.

Given that Leaellynasaura-type
polar dinosaurs must have been hypersensitive to light, the long
Antarctic summer days may have forced some dinosaurs into darker
shelter in order to avoid bright light. As with most nocturnal
animals, it is possible that they sought shelter in a cave or
large caverns close to the surface of the earth?

The wind blown Antarctic
winter nights may have also led the Leaellynasaura-like polar
dinosaurs to seek shelter from the wind. Just as a cave or cavern
opening became mankind's first domicile, dinosaurs may have used
such an inner earth opening as a shelter from from such
unfavorable winter conditions.

Many creatures that were on
the Saurian menu, sought the refuge of the underworld to escape
their predators. When caves and cavern systems were used as a
means of escape, unrelenting dinosaurs would have followed their
prey as deep into the earth as possible to get
"dinner." Once inside, they may have noticed the
agreeable conditions within the cave and later returned when
winter draped itself over the Gondwanaland terrain.

These environmental conditions
may have possibly created a dinosaur that was perfectly
pre-adapted for living underground. Furthermore, it is also
important to remember that Leaellynasaura was almost 110 million
years old when Paleontologist Tom Rich discovered her remains in
Dinosaur Cove, Australia. This means that as physiologically
advanced as these polar dinosaurs appear to have been, they still
had an additional 45 million more years in which evolution could
perfect their designs so they could further explore their
world and seek out new ecological niches in which they could
adapt and thrive.

Paleontologists appear to be in
agreement that dinosaurs of this type and from this region of the
Earth were, most likely, amongst the last to walk the surface of
the planet 65 million years ago.

Given the fact that this
particular type of dinosaur was so highly adapted to a cool or
cold climate and was able to see in the dark, could other
advanced polar dinosaurs, such as Leaellynasaura, have been able
to survive the cool, dark underground environment if they could
find food and water? Could large brained dinosaurs have entered
one of the many ancient volcanic vents or lava tube caves that
speckle the southern Antarctic continent (polar Gondwanaland) and
discovered an underground ecological niche in which they could
evolve undisturbed for millions of years? Perhaps in search for answers we need look
as far as this very profound statement.

"Author
Conan Doyle once dreamed of a plateau in South America that time forgot,
where dinosaurs continued to reign. Reports earlier this year that Dwarf
mammoths survived to early historical times, in islands of the coast of
Siberia, give force to such speculation. If dinosaurs found a similar
haven in which they outlived the rest of their kind, then we think polar Gondwana, including southeastern Australia, is a likely place to look
for it."

Alas, even these great
paleontologists appear to also dream of discovering survivors of
the great dinosaur extinction! And, according to their own words,
they believe that polar Gondawanaland or Antarctica, would be the
place to search for evidence of their survival.

Thanks to paleontologists Dale
Russell and Tom Rich, immensely important realities have been
established that can support the hypothesis regarding saurian
survival. Scientific evidence now indicates that:

a) Dinosaurs could
have eventually acquired the human-like physical form.

b) Some
dinosaurs were perfectly "suited" for survival in the
dark, cool underground environment.

c) If some dinosaurs were
to have survived the disaster of 65 million years ago, a yet undiscovered haven the Antarctic regions
may conceal the remains or actual presence of their descendants.